Rhyme and Reason: Spark Core
by ShivaVixen
Summary: Inspired by Beast Wars Feral Scream Episodes, and Based off of my two one-shots, Rhyme to Rage and Reason to Fight. This is a rewrite of my original story, Rhyme and Reason. Summary: What should have been a fatal shot moves Cheetor into the space between good and evil, and threatens to destroy the Maximals. Can Cheetor keep his loyalty and sanity?
1. A Fatal Shot

**Once upon a time, I wrote this fic based on two one-shots. I even posted about half of it, before putting it on hiatus. Looking back, I find it rather poorly written. So, while the overall premise will stay the same, Rhyme and Reason: Spark Core, will be very different from Rhyme and Reason: Original Version. I am keeping the original version up for people to compare, and as proof I am a better writer now. (Someday, I might re-upload the 2 one-shots; they were pretty good, though.)**

**This is AU after the Feral Scream episodes- but there are some major differences in this Alternate universe, mostly because when I originally started this fic, I watched the episodes out of order, so I didn't have a clear idea of when certain characters arrived or were killed. (Still don't.) Also, it's going to get pretty dark, mentions of experimentation, some torture, some character/animal death . . . nothing too graphic, but you might want to know. Also, with the exception of BlackArachnia and Silverbolt, there aren't going to be any pairings. I am focusing on Friendship/Family vibes, ****not**** Romance.**

**Disclaimer: . . . I have no clue who owns the right to Beast Wars, but it ain't me.**

* * *

**A Fatal Shot**

"Ah!" Optimus Primal gripped his head, having had hit it on the low ceiling of the cave.

"You okay, Big Bot?" Cheetor looked up to him, red optics glowing.

"Just fine. Any sign of the Predacons?"

"Not yet, yer sure the scanners weren't on the fritz again?" Rattrap called out to the two from where he was scouting the energon crystals. "Or that they're even underground?"

"We followed their scent, Rattrap, they're in here." Primal turned to ask Cheetor to scout further on, only to see him pounce at a shadow. "Cheetor!"

"Watch where you're going." Depth Charge shoved the younger bot as he emerged from the shadows.

"Sorry about that, Depth Charge." Cheetor backed up, tail lashing.

"Hmph." Depth Charge turned his attention to Primal. "X is nearby, be careful."

"Understood. Rattrap?"

"I heard."

"So did I." Rampage slipped out from yet another shadow, accompanied by Dinobot II, Quick Strike, and Inferno.

The following fight and taunts were rather predictable, Cheetor noticed, and focused on battling Dinobot II without much thought for the others, in fact, both Transmetal II's were so wrapped up in their fight they didn't notice the trouble the Maximals were in.

Optimus found his fight capabilities limited compared to the others, his size a serious handicap that Inferno was gleefully exploiting.

Quick Strike very quickly got Rattrap cornered between the cave wall and an overlarge stalagmite. Quick Strike had also very quickly had the snake's head arm disabled due to a precision bomb that Rattrap used.

Depth Charge, however, was far more annoyed. It hadn't been a sneak attack, but he had let his guard down all the same, and it had cost him a few milliseconds. Rampage used them to great effect, and pressed Depth Charge back, away from the other Maximals. Eventually, without much care to their surroundings, he brought part of the cave wall down onto Depth Charge, stunning the ray and knocking his gun out of his hands.

"I'm going to enjoy this!" Rampage was right on top of him.

"Cheetor!" The yell from Optimus echoed, and distracted Rampage.

At some point during their fight, the two Transmetal II's had shifted back to robot mode, and Dinobot II had hit Cheetor with the eye beam, knocking him into several energon crystals. Dinobot II had moved forward to finish his downed opponent, which was when Optimus had noticed the younger mech's predicament and yelled out.

Rampage fired, and Depth Charge was barely able to bring up one arm in a reflex to shield himself when he realized that Rampage hadn't been aiming at him.

Instead, the shots hit above Cheetor and caused the younger mech to be buried in rubble. Before Depth Charge could process this bizarre turn of events (he'd been at point blank range, Rampage could not have missed an easy target) Optimus sent Inferno flying and then blasted Quick Strike to free Rattrap.

By this point, the mostly stable energon began to pulse, and anyone with half a processor could see that it was slowly becoming unstable- a few more blasts would do it. Combined with the ominous rumbling of the cave, only a fool would have kept fighting.

"Retreat!" Dinobot II ordered, and the Predacons left, Inferno stopping briefly to pull Quick Strike along.

Depth Charge pulled himself out of the rubble, wincing as he realized one of his wings had been damaged. It didn't take him long to find his slightly battered gun, either.

"Spots! Can you hear me?" Rattrap and Primal were already shifting debris, trying to get to Cheetor. "Spots! C'mon kid, don't do this to us!"

"Depth Charge, help us!" Primal commanded, and while Depth Charge bristled at the order, he put up his gun to help. "Cheetor, respond!"

"I got his head! He's out cold!" Rattrap announced, and moved so he could protect Cheetor's processor from anymore debris falling on it. Thankfully, it was still attached, but it appeared scratched with a few small dents. "Kid, when you wake up, we're gonna have to talk about this habit of yours." Rattrap informed the unconscious mech.

"Legs are almost free- Slag." Depth Charge stopped. As a result of the change to Transmetal II, Cheetor's spark had moved to his left hip, in both beast and robot mode. It was something they had all noticed, and worried Rhinox and Primal to no end that his spark was in a far more vulnerable spot than the center of his chassis like normal.

"What is it?" Optimus finished freeing Cheetor's torso, and for a brief moment froze as he processed the scene.

Cheetor's spark casing was broken. Some of it had bent inward. There was a small energon leak that was extremely worrying to them all.

"Optimus . . ." Rattrap managed.

"Computer, Maximal Cheetor's status?"

"Stasis Lock." The computer responded, and Rattrap looked as relieved as Depth Charge felt.

"We need to get him to Rhinox, now!" Optimus snapped, but gently and careful picked up the injured Cheetor, careful of the damaged spark casing.

Rattrap shot off, transforming and using his wheels to speed off, hoping to get back in range of the base and alert them to the emergency as soon as possible.

Optimus moved as quickly as he could back out of the cave, leaving behind Depth Charge who briefly turned his attention to the battle zone.

Rampage had a clear shot at him, but missed; and while Cheetor had been in the line of fire, Rampage still should have hit Depth Charge . . . unless Rampage had purposefully aimed towards Cheetor, rather than kill him. It was entirely out of character for the mech that Depth Charge had hunted, and it made him uneasy.

It meant Rampage had decided to change his tactics, and someone always died before Depth Charge could compensate.

Depth Charge shook his head. He'd puzzle this new development later, right now, what remained of his conscience circuits were yelling at him to find out if the cat was going to survive.

* * *

BlackArachnia had been having a rather boring day. She'd debugged several programs for Rhinox, and worked on finding a way to use the Transmetal drive to upgrade to Transmetal II. She was fairly close, she thought, to being able to use it.

She was not expecting a distress code, and Rhinox barreling pass to set up a crude medical bay.

For the most part, all injuries were now treatable by CR Chamber, unless something had gotten jammed in where it wasn't supposed to be. Medical bays were quickly becoming unnecessary, save for the few that were set aside for organic aliens.

So for Rhinox to be setting one up, something really bad must have happened to one of the others. "What's happened?" BlackArachnia asked as she pitched in to help set it up, more out of curiosity than any real concern for whoever it was that was injured.

"Cheetor's spark casing was damaged, he's gone into stasis lock, but that might not last." Rhinox explained shortly, dragging the table from the 'galley' into the former storage room.

"Can't you move it?" BlackArachnia was fairly sure that this wouldn't be the first time Cheetor's spark casing was damaged. It was the absolute worst place for a spark to be, and yet no one had tried to move it to a better location.

"The change to Transmetal II moved and changed his internal systems. If I had been able to help him right away, I might have been able to keep his spark in a normal spot; as it is now, it's too late to do anything to change it, not without killing him." Rhinox scowled as he finished setting up the computer he'd need for monitoring Cheetor's systems. "Go see if they're here yet."

BlackArachnia hadn't gotten very far before Optimus all most ran over her. Her vocalizer seized up as she saw how still Cheetor was, so she could only mutely point the way to where Rhinox was waiting, before following and watching as Optimus laid the too still mech on the table.

"Don't interrupt me." Was all Rhinox said as he all but pushed them both out, and shut the door.

"Rattrap's in the CR chamber." BlackArachnia glanced over her shoulder in surprise at Depth Charge's arrival. She was even more surprised when the ray-bot glanced at the closed door in what was clearly concern.

"Our Tabby's still got several lives." BlackArachnia wished she hadn't spoken, but some part of her programming insisted on trying to reassure them. "He'll survive this."

"Let's hope so." Optimus' attention stayed on the door.

* * *

**A/N: Battle scenes are the bane of my existence. Sometimes, I can write them just fine, especially if it involves swords and arrows, but describing hand to hand and shooting? I still need work.**

**What's Changed?****: Well, for starters, the title. It actually comes from a line of Rampage's in Feral Scream, when he finds out Dinobot II has the other half of his spark. "You gave him the core of my spark!" (Slightly paraphrased, going off memory). I thought 'Spark Core' sounded good.**

**There's no Cheetor randomly destroying a boulder and freaking out Rattrap, and Depth Charge and Cheetor don't run into Rampage and Dinobot II by themselves. Looking back, it was an incredibly forced coincidence on my part. This scenario is hopefully much better.**

**I've also brought up a plot point that bothers me about Cheetor's new upgrade- his spark is where his left hip is. You actually **_**see **_**the spark at one point, when Cheetor first detaches his gun to shoot Waspinator. No one else has such an obvious placement- everyone else (as far as I can tell) has their spark in the chest area. This is a glaring weak point that I'm amazed no one else has noticed. **

**When I previously wrote this story, I didn't mention where the spark was because I was convinced I was mistaken and it wasn't on his hip. (After reviewing the episode, I can admit I was wrong.)**

**BlackArachnia's characterization is slightly more in tune with her actual portrayal, because at this point, she isn't TM2, and hasn't regained her maximal programming. I messed up on that point, and am trying to fit this story into the canon a little better.**

**Next Chapter****: Plot exposition, technical terms, and everyone gets some Ill News.**


	2. Ill news is an Ill guest

**Welcome to Chapter 2! Hope you enjoyed Chapter 1. No idea when Chapter 3 will be out, but time will tell . . . which gives me an idea . . . Anyway, the Author's note at the bottom will clarify some questions, and there is another section on what I made different from the Original version- that section will be there until we pass what was originally posted.**

**Disclaimer: As I've recently learned from TV Tropes that this doesn't always stop stories and other fan stuff from being removed, I have a new approach. **_**Please don't remove this story! I own very little and am living with my parents because I'm a full-time student who can't afford to pay for a dorm or an apartment!**_

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**Ill News is an Ill Guest**

"How is he?" Primal was the first to ask as Rhinox exited the crude medical bay. Damage to a spark casing was one of the few things that needed repairs by hand before one could go into a CR chamber. It was far too fragile otherwise.

By now, everyone had gathered, Silverbolt wanting to hear Cheetor's status before going on patrol after hearing the news from BlackArachnia, the two were standing together, the femme somewhat leaning onto him. Depth Charge had refused going into the CR chamber after Rattrap had emerged until he learned of the cat's fate. Optimus hadn't had the spark to tell them otherwise, and had been glad for the company, as silent and anxious as it had been. (Rattrap had not made a single quip, and was cleaning the same part of his gun for the past few minutes, optics intent on the door.)

"Alive, his internal repair systems were already fixing the damage when I got to him." Rhinox glanced around, if he was surprised that Depth Charge was in the group, he didn't show it.

"The shot should have been fatal." Rattrap objected, extremely uneasy. He'd seen mechs with damaged spark casings before, they didn't last long.

"That leads me to the bad news." Rhinox held up a small jar of shrapnel. "These were in his spark casing. The only way some of these could get where they were, is if they went through his spark."

"Then, how did he survive?" Primal took the shrapnel jar gently. The jagged shards of rock- and was that an energon crystal? - made his own spark shudder.

"I thought I was wrong, that I was imagining things, but I ran the scan anyway." Rhinox went over to the computer terminal. "All sparks have different energy signatures, they way they pulse varies from bot to bot. I scan them occasionally, make sure they're still functioning properly, and that our upgrades do not stress the sparks too much. This is Cheetor's file of scans- 1st when he was first selected for the trip, 2nd after we arrived, and so on. The first change occurred after we rescued Airazor, a result of using him to keep her spark alive, it brought their sparks into similar pulse ranges." As he spoke, he pulled up a file of multiple spark pulses.

The only one that was following was BlackArachnia, who was staring at the files with interest, everyone else was starting to lose focus, Rhinox noticed with some annoyance.

"Now, there's not much variation, until we get to Transmetal II- his spark pulse was erratic when we first got him, a result of trauma, I thought. After the confusion, I scanned the spark again, and it had settled, but as you can see, the pulses are different from his previous scans." Rhinox shook his head. "When I scanned it just now, it had changed even more."

"Get to the point." Depth Charge crossed his arms, clearly annoyed.

"Previous to our mission, I ran scans on all our crew's protoforms, including X. It was a suspicion, when I saw the shrapnel, but, I ran a comparison." Rhinox brought up another file, and highlighted the comparisons between it and Cheetor's. "Cheetor's spark has a 30% similarity to Rampage's. In simple terms, it's now immortal."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know. It shouldn't be." Rhinox shook his head. "The only scenario I can think of is if Rampage bonded them- but there's no evidence of it, and I was as thorough as it is possible, so I would have found evidence."

"Rampage knows something. He gave up shooting at me to cover the cat in debris." Depth Charge's hand was already reaching for his gun.

"What about sibling bonds?" BlackArachnia moved forward. "Our tabby and your birdie shared similar pulses, perhaps Rampage did something similar- our tabby was badly damaged."

"Why would Rampage save Cheetor?" Rattrap objected. "He's got no qualms trying to kill any of us, so why would he bother trying to save Spots?" Rattrap, and the others, turned to look at their one source of Rampage related information.

"He only spares those he can use in some way." Depth Charge answered the looks. "His tampering with the cat's spark, however, is unusual." And unsettling. Rampage was fairly predictable. He killed all those in his way, and it didn't matter species or age. This was far outside his normal behavior, if he not only saved an injured maximal, but in the process made him immortal. Perhaps an unintended result? Somehow, Depth Charge didn't think so.

"Rhinox?"

"Spark Bonds are still hard to define, even with our advances in research and observation. All bots have the same basic 10% similarity, and Sibling bonds occur when there is anywhere from 25 % to 50% similarity in spark pulses. Sibling bonds are also known to develop between bots that spend a lot of time together, and sometimes sibling bonds don't occur between naturally sparked siblings at all, though they retain some percentage of similarity." Rhinox's air vents let out air in a similar manner of a sigh. "Cheetor's initial scans indicate no similarity to Rampage. They have not spent anywhere near enough time together to develop a sibling bond."

"Wouldn't Cheetor be able to answer these questions?" Silverbolt finally spoke up.

"Doubtful, he was severely damaged, and his refusal to get into the CR chamber immediately means that his memory files were slightly corrupted from both the explosion, the violent transition to Transmetal II, he has no memory of encountering the Preds when they captured Depth Charge, or how he managed to get to base." Rhinox answered, and this time, everyone turned their attention to Optimus, who was staring at the matching files.

"Rampage covered him; he didn't let Dinobot II get close enough to make sure of his kill." Optimus began to speak, eyes still on the files. "For whatever reason, I can only assume that Rampage knows that Cheetor's spark is immortal, and he wants to keep that knowledge from the Predacons. Something that I agree with- Megatron was able to subdue Rampage; I do not what Cheetor in his hands as well." Optimus released some air as he turned to the group. "Rhinox and I will inform Cheetor of this. We need to keep this information out of Predacon knowledge. Depth Charge, if you can, try to find out what Rampage did."

"I'll try." Depth Charge gave a small nod. He didn't like being told what to do, he didn't particularly care for Primal or the rest, but Cheetor was now caught up in his battle, and he needed to know how. "Will Cheetor be able to feel Rampage?" He'd heard stories of siblings able to sense, and in some cases, feel, when the other was hurt or dying. If Rampage had done this to torture them, by making them watch Cheetor suffer through injuries not his own . . . it would be right up the homicidal bot's twisted alley.

"From what I remember of the last journal published, sensing happens around the 35 - 40% range, and ability to feel around 45 – 50%." Rhinox sighed. "I'll see if I still have it to make sure, but we've lost a lot of data since we crashed here."

"Silverbolt, you and Rattrap are on patrol, BlackArachnia, help Rhinox decrypt the files." Optimus glanced at Depth Charge, who had yet to be repaired. "Depth Charge, head to the CR Chamber before you go hunting, you need it. I'm going to sit with Cheetor." What Rhinox didn't say, was the fact that he was basing this on the behavior of normal sparks. Immortal sparks were different, and there was not enough data on them to know how they'd act.

The group dispersed, and Optimus re-entered the crude medical bay where Cheetor was lying still. He already appeared healed, and Optimus didn't have to double check to realize he had entered a natural re-charge. This gave Optimus a chance to gather his thoughts.

Things had been slightly strained between them lately; Optimus could admit to himself that there was a space that between them that had only recently been noticed. Cheetor had gone from an open-sparked youngling to a slightly angry and more secretive mech. Part of it was the more feral beast mode that had resulted from his transition to Transmetal II, but the other part of it had been slowly happening, a result of a youngling in a war situation, Optimus had only recently realized.

Cheetor had been getting more and more ruthless even before the transformation, and the most obvious sign of it was his willingness to destroy a helpless protoform before it could be reprogrammed into a Predacon.

He hadn't even stopped from pulling the trigger when Optimus had shouted.

The incident had been all but forgotten, buried by the subsequent events, but now Optimus was forced to think of it. The innocence and love of life that even the original Dinobot had found amusing was steadily being chipped away.

It happened. Optimus had been a warrior before he was a scientist, he had seen his share of skirmishes and bots that were changed . . . Cheetor had been a pilot, a hotshot young pilot that had just barely had his license and the bare minimum of field experience.

And combat instruction on the fly by a former Predacon. Optimus realized, and almost hit himself. Rhinox and Rattrap had been busy with programming and inventing, and while Optimus had done his best to look after and mentor Cheetor (they all had, and he could remember Tigertron coaching the young cat in using his beast mode for stealth) it had been Dinobot, annoyed with what he viewed as 'incompetent maximal training', who had trained the young mech in battle tactics and strategies, and while Optimus had also trained Cheetor in preferred Maximal tactics, obviously Dinobot's training had stuck better.

With one mystery of Cheetor's more violent approach to fighting figured out, Optimus turned his attention back to the current problem, the one he would rather have avoided for a little longer.

Cheetor's spark was immortal. That wasn't much of a problem. There had been natural cases of sparks that were more resistant to destruction or fading, the most famous being the Decepticon Starscream. It was unlikely that Cheetor would be in danger for having one. If it was natural.

Rampage had been an (successful) attempt to artificially create such a spark. The result had shut the program down, but Optimus could remember one of the scientists having proposed using pieces of Rampage's spark to immortalize others, in a vain attempt to keep the experiment going. Everyone else in high command, already sickened by the result of the experiment, had quickly outlawed such a use, and just as quickly decided to put X as far away and as isolated as possible.

There was no telling what would happen if it got out that Cheetor was the result of that very possibility, and while Optimus was not willing to let that happen, he still needed to figure out how to keep Cheetor safe from those that would want to continue the experiments.

Keeping Cheetor away from Rampage would also be ideal, but Optimus knew he could not keep Cheetor in their base indefinitely. And Megatron would be very curious if Optimus tried.

"I wish I knew how to keep you safe, Cheetor." He had led soldiers, but this was the first time he'd had to lead civilians. Optimus jumped as Cheetor responded.

"Where'd the fun be in that?" The younger mech stretched, wincing as he received a few error messages from systems still coming back online. "What hit me?"

"Dinobot II got a lucky shot. Hit your spark casing." Optimus quickly paged Rhinox.

"My spark casing?" Cheetor reached to his side, where it was located.

"There was a lot of damage." Rhinox came in, and Optimus looked at him, trying to figure out what to say next. "Some shrapnel ended up inside."

"Am I alright?" Cheetor tried to check his systems, but they were still sluggishly coming back online.

"You're fine, but you shouldn't be." Rhinox stepped forward. "Bits of shrapnel pierced your spark, including some shards of energon."

"Oh." Cheetor's optics widened. "But I'm fine?" He noticed the way the two looked at each other, and his fear made the next words come out in a growl. "What's wrong, what aren't you telling me?"

"We don't know how it happened, but your spark is now apparently immortal, like Rampage." Rhinox explained softly. Cheetor stiffened.

"Cheetor," Optimus tried to reassure him, but was cut off.

"That's impossible." Cheetor spoke up, sounding as young and scared as he had when he was blind. Rhinox winced as he continued. "That's just not possible; my spark can't be, not like Rampage!"

Optimus ignored Rhinox as he explained, instead gently resting a hand on Cheetor's back and trying to reassure him with physical contact- Cheetor pressed unconsciously into the touch, even as he listened to Rhinox.

"How?" Cheetor finally asked after Rhinox finished explaining. "How could this happen?"

"We don't know. There is time between your feral attack on the Predacons and Depth Charge, and your arrival at the base that hasn't been accounted for. That's the only time Rampage would have been able to get to you." Rhinox scowled, unhappy with the rather large gap in the timeline.

"What's going to happen to me?" Cheetor had heard him, but it was clear he was in shock.

"Nothing, we're going to keep this among Maximals, we won't let the Predacons find out, and we won't let the knowledge go beyond this planet." Optimus ignored Rhinox's look. "We'll figure this out, Cheetor, I promise."

"I know Big Bot." Cheetor looked up at Optimus, meeting his optics. "I know you will." If there was a slight waver to the words, no one mentioned it.

* * *

**A/N:**** Sparks. There is a lot of fanon about them, given there isn't much description of them in canon beyond them being mentioned as necessary for Transformers to function. So here's some quick notes to clarify some terminology I've scrapped together to form my own fanon:**

'**Spark Mates' or Mate Spark Bonds- result when two (or more, depending on fanon) unrelated transformers bond for the purpose of love, or producing a sparkling. (Fanon details vary on sparklings, and as their creation is not important to this fic, I am ignoring them beyond occasional mention). This type will only be mentioned, and not really explored in this fic- my focus is Family/Friendship, not romance. (If you would like a fic regarding these types of bonds, I recommend MissCHSparkles (sp?) transformer fics, they're well done.)**

**Comrade Spark Bonds- result when two (or more) unrelated transformers spend so much time together that their sparks begin to pulse in sync. Side effects include closeness, knowledge when something isn't right with the other, and attempts to die for each other.**

**Sibling Spark Bonds- When two or more transformers come from the same creators, their sparks are similar enough to automatically know when something isn't right. Depending on how close the siblings are, it can be a strong bond or a weak one. Sibling bonds can form between two or more transformers with strong Comrade bonds, but that result require a lot of time and closeness to form.**

**In all cases, the strength of the bond varies from weak (affection, unable to sense anything) to very strong (able to feel emotions and physical state of the other). The stronger the bond, the more potentially crippling it will be if one of the bonded is killed.**

**I know several of you will be asking 'Which type of bond do Cheetor and Rampage have?', so I'll tell you. Currently, it is a Comrade type, and fairly weak. I can tell you right now, however, that they will never be 'Spark Mates'.**

**What's changed from the Original Version?**

**Rather than have Rhinox come right out and say it, I had some other possibilities batted around, and other characters giving their input. Sadly, the poker game had to go; it didn't fit the tone of this chapter anymore.**

**Tried to make it slightly more realistic, last go round had the deus ex machina of long range scanners. Also combined this chapter with part of what would have been chapter 3, so Cheetor got the bad news quicker.**

**I also gave Optimus some time to think about repercussions, in the original, you'll notice that Optimus pretty much just tells everyone not to speak of it without much reason other than 'Megatron would try to use this against us'.**

**Also gave the scene of Rhinox and Optimus breaking the news to Cheetor from Optimus's view. It's never easy to tell someone you care for that something is wrong with them, I hope I captured that.**

**Next Chapter****: Our favorite Homicidal Crab reflects and comes up with a plan to get the rest of his spark back quicker.**


End file.
